Tug of war in BJP over Tablighi returnees

A tug of war was witnessed within the BJP over the quarantining of foreign Tablighi Jamaat returnees. On Friday, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s political secretary and Yelahanka MLA SR Vishwanath staged a protest over the presence of  35 foreign TJ attendees at the Royal Orchid Resort in Allalasandra village, which falls under his assembly constituency. 

The MLA’s followers continued to protest till late evening against the hotel management for letting the foreigners stay at the resort at the cost of the locals’ safety. After the intervention of BBMP officials, the foreign nationals were shifted to another government-run quarantine facility in Banaswadi.

Vishwanath demanded that the Tablighis should be made to sleep on the floor. “As we all know, these foreigners were associated with the Tablighi Jamaat and they were not supporting the government’s fight against Covid-19,” he said. But the issue continued to fester as BJP workers  under the leadership of former BBMP’s opposition leader Padmanabha Reddy, corporator Kodananda Reddy and Govindraju protested in front of the Banaswadi police station after the Tablighis were shifted to a hotel there. Fearing the spread of the virus, the leaders demanded to shift the returnees outside the city.

“The Padarayanapura acccused were shifted to Haj Bhavan and those who were already quarantined at Haj Bhavan have been shifted to a serviced apartment in Banaswadi. We demand they be shifted to some other place because our ward is a corona-free zone and we don’t want to take any risk,” said Padmanabha Reddy.

Sources said BBMP later decided to shift them back to Haj Bhavan.